Sony (NYSE:SONY) shares rose sharply Friday, on word the company raised sales guidance for the full year on Friday and posted operating profit that smashed analyst expectations after a strong quarter for its gaming business.
Revenue proved to be 2.97 trillion Japanese yen ($19.4 billion U.S.), versus 3.03 trillion yen expected. That was up 9% and slightly below analyst expectations. Operating profit was 455.1 billion yen, versus 336.07 billion yen expected. That’s up 73% year over year and beats expectations.
The Japanese tech giant revised its fiscal 2025 revenue target up slightly to 12.7 trillion yen. It previously targeted 12.6 billion yen in sales. Sony also expects full-year operating profit of 1.3 trillion yen, in line with its previous forecast.
That came as Sony saw strength in its game and network services division, which houses its popular PlayStation home console brand. Game and network services revenue at the company came in at 1 trillion yen, up 12% year over year.
Sony said it sold 3.8 million PlayStation 5 units in the September quarter, down 22% year over year. Still, the firm saw a 28% jump in game software sales for the three-month period, to 612.3 billion yen. Astro Bot, a new platformer title released for PS5 in September, sold 1.5 million units in its first 58 days.
SONY shares gained $1.50, or 8.2%, to $19.76.
